Pipe rack



'Oct. 14, 1941. L, YMAL 4 2,258,960

PIPE RACK Filed March 11, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 11-" .1. I v5 Fig.2.

HazenL. Byma/ Oct. 14, 1941. H RYMAL 2,258,960

PIPE RACK Filed March 11, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ner that fluid and debris thdnein of a section of drill pipe Patented Oct. 14, 1941 UNETED STATE-S 'PATENT OFFICE I ,9 I .mrszmick Q fiazen' lnRymal, Refugiog'lexl Appiication March 11, 1939, Serial No. 251,297 eciaim .gci. 211 -s) The present invention relates to "-a rack adapted to be used on the derrickfioor of an oil well to support pipe such as casing,- drill pipe and tubing, in convenient position for-use within the derrick.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide a pipe rack which will permit orderly arrangement of the well pipe when stacked, as distinguishedfromthe helterf-skelter way of stacking such pipe asnow exists. I

An important object of 'the invention is to support pipe on the derrick floor in such'manwill drain while-the pipe is not in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide of the rack. I A further object of the inventionis to pro-' vide a pipe rack as aioresaidwhich will'pre- Throughout the various operations involved in drilling and completing oil wells, it is necessary to insert pipe into and remove it from the "tohe added is attached theretoand lowered on vent the entrance 'of wooden splinters or other.

foreign matter into the circul'atingsystem-cf the well, thus avoiding the fouling of valves,

pumps and various other well system. I

In the drawings, which are illustrative of one form which the invention may take:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatical side elevational view of an oil well derrick showing pipe'stacked in one side thereof in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatical plan view of the working parts of the derrick floor, with the drill racks arranged Figure 7 is a bottom plan View of the pipe racks shown in Figures and'6. I

Figure 8 is an end view of one of the pipe racks. I

Figure 9 is an enlarged plan view of'a portion of one of the pipe racks, showing one of the pipe receiving means, and I I Figure 10 is a vertical sectional view along the line llii9 of Figure 9, andshowing an end positioned on'its receiving means. i

into=-tne we11,this operation continuing until the-desireddepth is reached. Pipe is removed "from the well in the reverse manner, breaking the pipe into sections as it is taken from the well. Usually the 'pipe is kept in lengths of three "or more sections, and before the pipe is inserted, or after it is removed, it is kept stacked in the side of the derrick convenient for use in theabove-mentioned lengths.

It will be understood that these lengths of pipe are quite heavy, and their manipulation "during insertion and withdrawal is quite a problem. I

It has previously been the custom to support the lewer 'e'nd's of this pipe at theside'or in one corner of the derrick on a wooden platform comprising planks of hard wood which are simply laid upon the floor of the derrick. Some operators merely stack this pipe on a pile of old rope.

When pipes are stacked in the manner describ'ed above, there is no orderly planned ar- :rangcment oft-he various sections of pipe, and consequently, the stacked pipe often occupies mere space than is necessary. Due to the diflicult operations which are performed within the derrick during the drilling of a well, space is ,ata prein iuin, and the importance of an invention which will simplify and make 'inore :.01derly the stacking of pipe, and which'will save 'as r'nuch of the available space as possible, is readily apparent.

Referring to Figure l, the sides of the derrick are diagrammatically illustrated at I0, and it will be understood that an ordinary derrick may be from one hundred to one hundred and hftyieet in height. The derrick'fioor is shown at 12, and it is on this floor or platform that the'men stand during'th'e performance of 'operati'ons in inserting pipe into andreinoving it from the well. At one side of the derrick floor,

shown in Figure 3 between which the at I4, is an arrangement of machinery known as the draw works. The draw works usually comprise a hoisting drum, a hoisting engine and various reels, and these connect by steel cables with a pulley at the top of the derrick which is known as the crown block. The various hoisting lines and attachments depend from the crown block down into the derrick, and they carry at their lower ends devices for manipulating equipment into and out of the well. In Figure 1, what is known as an elevator i8 is shown depending from the crown block of the derrick. Elevators usually comprise pairs of hinged jaws which grip the pipebeneath an enlarged collar thereof, and support the same as it is being lowered into the well.

The sections of pipe l8 are shown stacked in the side of the derrick in substantially vertical position. They are usually not exactly vertical, but lean against one side of the derrick. The lengths of the pipe are connected byjoints 20, and as the present description will use drill pipe as an illustration, these joints are shown as tool joints which are employed to connect together sections of such pipe. The sections of them wet and slippery, and making the spinning operation impractical and even dangerous. In handling drill pipe, this mud also covers the rotary drilling unit and covers the derrick floor.

Furthermore, due to the heavy weight of the sections, they bite into the wooden floor planks breaking splinters therefrom, which splinters get in the joints of pipe as the sections are connected and prevent the forming of a tight union. Such splinters, or pieces of rope if the latter is used, get into the circulating system of the well, causing valves to be disabled by being held off their seats, and fouling pumps and other devices in pipe are supported at their lower ends onthe drill rack R, and at their upper ends by what is known as a hay rake. The hay rake is only illustrated diagrammatically and is shown comprising a. member 22 secured to the frame of the derrick, carrying spaced retaining arms 24 as sections of the pipe are arranged.

Assuming that a portion of the pipe has been inserted into the well, and the time has arrived to add another section thereto, the elevator I6 is lowered until it can be secured beneath the uppermost collar 20 on a particular section. Thereafter, the section of pipe is lifted and its lower end is fitted or threaded into the upper. end of the last section which has already been inserted into the well. In the case of drill pipe, the upper collar of the lowermost section will have a tapered threaded female socket, into which is inserted and threaded the tapered threaded male socket at the lower end of the uppermost section of pipe. An illustration of the tapered male portion of the socket is shown in Figure 10. It is obvious that such a joint or connection may be damaged by the presence of sand'or other foreign matter in the union.

The threading of the sections together is usually made more rapid in winding a spinning rope around the upper section while it is supported in position by the elevator, and then rapidly pull-.

and free of mud, to make this spinning operation practical.

In present practices, when the pipe is simply stacked on planks on the derrick floor, the lower end of each section bites into the wood of the planks by reason of the weight of the section;

and forms a seal, thus retaining sand, mud and fluid within the lower end of the section. It will be understood that the well pipe is often filled with heavy mud during the drilling and Hence, when a section of pipe other operations. is elevated for connection with that previously inserted into the well, the mud and fluid runs out from the lower end of the section when it is elevated from the wooden platforms, and covers shoes and valves may also interfere with cementing operations, and splinters in the back pressure valve of a drill string may prove to be dangerous in preventing circulation of mud.

n The construction of the drill rack is shown in Figures 5 through 10. Each section of the rack comprises a plate26 provided with a plurality of spaced means to receive and position the lower end of a. section of pipe. These means may be in the form of recesses, but I have found the .most convenient form to be spaced projections 28 which extend upwardly from the plate 26. The plate 26 is made of metal, such as iron or steel, and is formed with the integral or detachable upwardly extending projections 28. Surrounding said projections, and preferably embeddedin the upper face of the plate 26 are relatively soft substantially annular rings 30, which may be composed of such metal as lead, babbitt or the like. These rings may be made of any appropriate material other than metal. The purpose of the rings is to receive the lower edges of the pipe as shown in Figure 10, without injuririg the same, it being evident that the relatively hard metal of the pipe will bite into the soft metal ring without injuring the former. The pipe; receiving projections are so spaced, as shown in Figure 5, that the tool joints 20 of the pipe, (shown in broken lines), will almost touch each other when the sections of pipe are stacked. Space on the derrick floor is thus conserved. The projections 28 are provided with circularly spaced outside angular cutouts 34, as shown in Figure 9, and extending through the plate 26 within said cutouts, and inside of the softm'etal ring 3fl, are openings 36. These openthe: pipessurroundingthe joint, thus making {L5 ings provide drainage channels leading from within the ring 30, to drain the pipe when it is supported on the rack. When the lower end of a-section of pipe is supported on the rack as shown in Figure 10, the openings 36 are within the bore of the pipe and therefore permit mud anemia to drain from the interior thereof.

' While the means for draining the interior of the pipe may be in the form of channels extending from the projections outwardly to the edges of the rack, the most convenient arrangement is to ,provide openings extending downwardly entirely through the plate 26.

While several rows of projections may be providedon a single plate, I have found it more convenient to provide relatively narrow plates each havinga single row of projections as shown in Figure'5, and these plates can be arranged adjanozzle H shown in Figure 1.

" derrick 'floor.

cent one anotherin any convenient manner as described in more detailbelow.

As shown, inFiguresfi and '7, the bottom of each plate 26 isyprovided with a plurality of spaced downwardly depending ribs 38 extending laterally across theplates. the plates injspaced relation to the base on which These ribs support they are positioned, which is thederrick floor, so that ;mud*and fluid which drains from the pipe-through the'openings 36 can-be washed off the derrick floor by such means as the hose and At the corners of the plates, the end ribs. 38 are provided with .qdownwardly. directed pointed projections 40, which serve to bite into the wood of the derrick floor and retain the racks in'fixed position.

The ribsfiildepend deeperonone side of the plate than on the other side thereof, :as shown in :Figure 8, so that the upper 'face of each plate can be arrangedto slant upwardly away from the. side of thederrick carrying the hay rake, as shown in Figure 1; This arrangement permits the weight of eachpipe section to be applied normal to the upper face of the plate, and permits projections 28. to extend straight up into the pipesections.

The racks may be in straightv integral lengths, or" they may be in shorter lengths pivoted together as shown in Figures 4, and 6 to facilitate arranging them in thedesired manner on the Referring-to Figures 5 and 6, one' end of one plate is provided with an upper flange 42, which overlies a lower flange M on .i the adjacent plate, and these flanges are pivoted together by'a pin '43, so that they may be ad- :justed horizontally with respect to one another as desired' In Figures 2 and l, the relative location of the rotary drilling unit 48 and the draw Works H! on the derrick floor is shown. The rotary drilling unit includes a drive bushing 50 through an opening in which the drill pipe is inserted, the bushing being rotated through gearing from an adjacent engine and engaging the drill pipe "inia Well-known manner to cause the same to turn during the drilling operation.

It Will be understood that in drilling and comple'ting an oil well, it is necessary to remove the length of drill pipe and insert the same again into the well a number of times in order to perform various necessary operations. As the drill pipe is withdrawn from the well, and broken up into sections, the sections are customarily stacked in the side of the derrick.

Referring to Figure 2, when the first section is to be detached, the elongated rack section 52 'is placed on the derrick floor at a convenient location extending between the draw works and the rotary drilling unit at the outside of the iderrick'platform. -The first section of drill pipe is b'roken off, and while supported by the elevator it, is pushed over and its lower end engaged i withthe'first projection 54 on the rack 52 adja'cent the rotary drilling unit. The upper end of i this section is inserted into the space 56 between the outermost pair of arms 24 of the hay rake toward the rotary drilling unit as shown in Figure 3 The next section broken 'ofi is similarly disposed over the adjacent projection 58 on the rack 52, and its upper end is disposed in the second space 60 between the arms of the hay rake 24 as shown in Figure 3. Thereafter, succeeding sections are placed on successive projections on the rack 52 working toward the draw Works until all of the projections 01 this rack areengaged, at which time the inner ".ends'of the spaces-between the arms 24 of the hay rake: of. Figure, 3' will all "be engaged.

.It will be understood that during the above operations, thepsucceeding racks ,62, 64, 66 and 68 showninFigure 2 need not be in, position on the derrickfioortrsosthatthe crew can push the sections f .P pe over into engagement with the .proiections on the; first rack 52 without having 10.

to. walk. over: 1theprojections on the succeeding raclrsgwhichwou-ldbe necessary if the complete .rack was. made; up .of :asin-gle plate', provided with'a number of rows of projections.

As sections of pipe are withdrawn, the racks 52, E62, 64, 66 and 68 are successively filled in the manner describedq above, filling the spaces betweenthe arms 24 of'the hay rake in a similar manner. Q

When it is again desired to build up the drill string as it is again being inserted into the well, thereverse of the procedure outlined above may he followed. That is, sections of the drill pipe may be taken first from the end of the outermost .rackGB adjacent the draw works, working to- 'At times when operations are to be performed adjacent the rotary drilling unit, the racks can be positioned in a curved manner as in Figure 4, thus shortening the overall length of the ream, so that more room is provided adjacent the rotary drilling unit. These two arrangements of the racks areillustrative, and it will be evident thatsaid racks maybe arranged in various ways on the derrick floor depending on circumstances.

The projections .28 may be of such size as to receive the collars of drill pipe or tubing, or-if larger pipe is being stacked, they may be larger as necessary. Sockets may be provided to receive solid rods, if such are used during any operations 'o'n' the well.

By reason of the orderly stackingof the sections' of pipe, the same sections of the pipe may be connected each time the pipe string is assembled going into the well. "Ihe orderly stacking of thepi-pe facilitates counting the sections as "the pipe goes into or comes out of the well, so

that the driller will always know how close he is to the bottom or the top of the well. More orderly and faster running and removing of well pipe results from the 'use of this invention.

Various changes in the apparatus shown herein may be made without departing from the invention. I

I claim: v r I a 1. A rack for supporting a heavy hollow metal -'-oil well pipe in a substantially vertical position with its weight resting on its lower end, com- "prising a metal plate of sufilcient strength to "bear the weight of the heavy pipe and having means for positioning the open lower end of the pipe, and a substantially annular section of material on said plate adjacent said means to engage and protect the edge of the open end of the pipe, said material being relatively soft with respect to the metal of said plate and pipe.

2. A rack for supporting sections of hollow pipe in substantially vertical position with the weight of the sections of pipe resting on the lower ends thereof, comprising-a plurality of elongated metal plates adapted to be arranged on a base adjacent one another, said plates having a plurality of means each adapted to position the open lower end of a section of pipe, and means for adjustably securing said plates together at their ends, whereby adjacent plates may be adjusted with respect to one another on the base to arrange the sections of pipe as desired.

3. A rack for supporting heavy hollow oil well pipe in a substantially vertical position with the weight of the pipe resting on its lower end, comprising a metal plate of sufiicient strength to bear the weight of the heavy'pipe, means on said plate for positioning the open lower end of the pipe, said means having associated therewith a substantially annular band on said plate on which the lower end of the pipe rests; said band being made of material relatively soft with respect to the metal of the pipe, said plate having a drainage channel leading from within said band to provide for drainage from said pipe when the pipe is supported on said rack;

4. A rack for supporting heavy hollow pipe in a substantially vertical position with the weight of the pipe resting on its lower end, comprising a metal plate, an upstanding projection on said plate for receiving the open lower end of the pipe, a ring of metal on said plate surrounding said projection, on which ring the lower end of the pipe rests, said ring being made of metal relatively soft with respect to the metal of the pipe, said plate having an opening therein within said ring to provide for drainage from said pipe when the pipe is supported on said rack.

5. A rack for supporting heavy hollow pipe in a substantially vertical position with the weight of the pipe resting on its lower end, comprising a metal plate adapted to be positioned on a base, having means for receiving the lower open end of the pipe, said means including means engaging the lower end of the pipe to support the latter against lateral displacement and including a ring of metal on which the lower end of the pipe rests, said ring being made of metal relatively soft with respect to the metal of the pipe, said plate having an opening therein within said ring to provide for drainage from said pipe when the pipe is supported on said rack with its lower end received by said means, and means on said plate for spacing the lower face thereof adjacent said opening from said base, whereby matter draining from the pipe may, be washed away from beneath said plate.

6. A rack for supporting sections of hollow pipe in a substantially vertical position with the weight of the pipe resting on its lower end, comprising an elongated metal plate adapted to be positioned on the derrick floor, spaced positioning means on said plate for individually receiving the open lower ends of sections of the pipe, said positioning means comprising upstanding projections of size for entry into the lower ends of the pipe, relatively soft metal rings surroundedges of the open-ends of the pipejanda plurality of circularly spaced openings extending the lower face thereof from the derrick floor, whereby matter draining from the sections of pipe may be washed away'from beneath said plate.

'7. Arrack for supporting sections of heavy hollow oil well pipe on the floor of a derrick with the sections in substantially vertical position with their weight resting on their lower ends, comprising a plurality of elongated plates of sufficient strength to bear the weight of the heavy pipe and adapted to be positioned adjacent one another in various convenient relations depending on the type of work being performed in the derrick,'each of said plates having a series of spaced positioning means to individually position the open ends of sections of the pipe, said plates being adapted to be successively laid adjacent one another on the floor of the derrick and their positioning means successively supplied with the lower ends of sections of the oil well pipe as the latter is removed from the well andstacked in the derrick;

8. A rack for supporting sections of heavy hollow oil well pipe on the floor of a derrick in substantially vertical position with the weight of the sections of pipe resting on the lower ends thereof, comprising a metal plate of sufiicient strength to bear the weight of the sections of pipe and having a plurality of positioning means each adapted to individually position the open lower end of a section of pipe, said positioning means being disposed on said plate closely adjacent one another to permit the stacking of the pipe in a' minimum space in the derrick, said positioning means having bands of material relatively soft with respect to the metal of said plate associated therewith to engage and protect the edge of the open lower end of the sections of pipe.

9. -A rack for supporting sections of heavy hollow oil well pipe on the floor of a derrick in substantially vertical position with the weight of the sections of pipe resting on the lower ends thereof, comprising a metal plate of sufiicient strength to bear the weight of the sections of pipe and having a plurality of positioning means each adapted to individually position the open lower end of a section of pipe, said positioning means being disposed on said plate closely adjacent one another to permit the stacking of -the pipe in a minimum space in the derrick, said plate having drainage channels associated with said pipe positioning means and leading from the interior of the sections of pipe when the latter are supported on said rack with their open lower ends engaged with said positioning means, said plate being provided adjacent said positioning means with material relatively soft with respect to the metal of said plate for protecting the edges of the open lower ends of the sections of pipe.

HAZEN L. RYMAL. 

